The film that most blurs
the line between horror and sci-fi, Ridley Scott's "Alien" is
basically a monster movie and haunted house movie set in outer
space. The pacing is deliberately slow, sometimes achingly so, but
the second half more than makes up for the first. A crew of space
transporters responds to a distress call from an unknown planet, where a
killing machine of an alien enters one of the men. Things seem all
right for a while after the parasite is killed, but then one of the most
horrifying scenes of all time confirms that not everything is all
well. Kane (John Hurt) is eating breakfast with the other crew
members of the Nostromo when he begins to choke and cough. He
falls over onto the table, and a baby alien (later called Xenomorph)
erupts from his stomach, covered in blood and fluid. It escapes
while the crew is stunned, and the rest of the film concerns their search
for the rapidly-growing monster. Well directed, competently acted,
frightening, and featuring one of the best inhuman monsters in all of
film, "Alien" is worth watching for horror as well as sci-fi
fans.